Monday night will be the final meeting between the Colorado Avalanche and the Los Angeles Kings. It could also be the last time that Avs fans see Anže Kopitar play in the NHL, with his retirement coming at the end of the season. The Kings will play with a short bench on Monday, having multiple players out because of injury and illness. Kevin Fiala suffered an injury during the Olympics and will not play for the rest of the season. Defenseman Drew Doughty also has an injury, throwing off the defensive pairings. Monday might see an interesting points contest, where the Avs aim to improve their standings.

Colorado Avalanche (38–10–9, 85 pts)

It was slow going for the Avalanche against their rival, the Chicago Blackhawks, on Saturday. Something that we have said too many times this season, the Avalanche struggled on the power play. They went 0-for-4 on the night, but allowed a power-play goal by the Hawks. Connor Bedard would be the sole goal scorer for the Hawks, and then the Avalanche took over. Cale Makar, who has not scored a goal in eight games, came through with a multi-goal effort. Gavin Brindley, as usual for him, added an insurance goal, scoring his first goal in 25 games. The Avalanche won the contest 3–1.

Projected Lines

Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Necas
Gabriel Landeskog – Brock Nelson – Valeri Nichushkin
Ross Colton – Jack Drury – Victor Olofsson
Parker Kelly – Zakhar Bardakov – Gavin Brindley

Devon Toews – Cale Makar
Josh Manson – Brent Burns
Brett Kulak – Sam Malinski

Mackenzie Blackwood
Scott Wedgewood

Los Angeles Kings (24–21–14, 62 pts)

The big story coming out of Los Angeles was not the shutout win over the Calgary Flames, but the release of head coach Jim Hiller. He was relieved of his duties after only two seasons at the helm of the Kings. It should come as no surprise that the Kings beat the Flames on Saturday, though. The Flames are currently 28th in the NHL, but the Kings aren’t that far ahead at 25th. It was a drawn-out battle until late in the second period when Alex Laferriere broke open the scoring. The Kings held off the Flames until Dustin Wolf was pulled from the net and Adrian Kempe hit the empty- net goal for the 2–0 victory.

Projected Lines

Artemi Panarin – Anze Kopitar – Adrian Kempe
Trevor Moore – Quinton Byfield – Alex Laferriere
Warren Foegele – Alex Turcotte – Corey Perry
Jeff Malott – Samuel Helenius – Taylor Ward

Joel Edmundson – Brandt Clarke
Mikey Anderson – Cody Ceci
Jacob Moverare – Brian Dumoulin

Anton Forsberg
Darcy Kuemper

Game Details

Time: 8:30 p.m. MT

Watch: Altitude 2, Altitude+, KTVD, FDSNW (LAK), ESPN+ (Out of Market Only)

Listen: Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM/AM 950